EVN reports enough power to meet dry season demand

A 220 kV power line is being installed by the National Power Transmission Corporation under Electricity of Vietnam
(Source: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - National
power utility Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) said increased production and
decreased transmission loss will allow it to meet power needs during this
year’s dry season.

The utility announced on its
website a first half production of 94.9 billion kW, a year-on-year increase of
7.23 percent.

Commercial electricity production
increased 8.47 percent year-on-year to 82.9 billion kW, with domestic supply
increasing by 8.78 percent over last year. The most productive day on June 2
saw a record 628.4 million kW generated at the maximum transmission capacity of
30,206 megawatts.

EVN affirmed that the company
would supply sufficient electricity to meet demand across all regions and purposes.
It also promised to generate enough to meet increased consumption in the 2017
dry season which saw a prolonged heat wave in the Northern and Central
Highlands at the beginning of June.

The general trend is southward
transmission, EVN noted, with electricity transmitted from the north to the
Central Highlands and southern regions.

The highest recorded electricity
transmission capacity on the 500 kilovolt southward line was 3,600 megawatts.
On average, total transmitted amount was 79.95 billion kilowatts, an increase
of 4.7 percent over 2016.

For the second half of 2017, EVN
has set a production goal of 102.1 billion kW, in which commercial output
including exports to Laos and Cambodia would reach 92.1 kW.

For 2010 to 2015, EVN spent 492
trillion VND (21.8 billion USD) on 34 power generators and many other projects
that laid a total 13,100 kilometres of power lines.

The company expects power demand
to increase 10 percent on a yearly basis, and plans to invest 710.6 trillion
VND (31.3 billion USD) during the 2016-20 period.

Its official financial report for
the year 2016 showed that total outstanding public debt was approximately 487
trillion VND (21.5 billion USD), up 7.1 percent over 2015.

The funds were borrowed to invest
in numerous power plants in order to meet national demand, it said.

EVN’s Deputy Director General Dinh
Quang Tri commented earlier this year that the company relied mainly on two
financial sources, revenue power prices and “capital arrangements”.

Tri also said that each year, EVN
would need between 5-6 billion USD, and with little support from the
Government, the utility had been working with the World Bank on ways to raise
funds.

He said the company hoped to
raise enough funds next year from various sources including the issuance of
international bonds.

EVN also reported an improvement
in its power loss index at 7.25 percent for the past six months, 0.22 percent
lower than the set target. It attributed this achievement to a concerted effort
by the company’s numerous technology and operation departments, in order to
minimise blackouts and risks within the national power grid.

In the first two quarters of
2017, EVN focused on enhancing customer service and improving the electricity accessibility
index.

Since May 15, technical and
administrative procedures have been minimised and all customers duly informed.

The company has also signed an
agreement with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) for the
latter to perform regular surveys on and assessments of service quality.

Reliability indexes for EVN have
increased significantly from last year. For the first six months of 2017, the
System Average Interruption Duration Index reduced by 47 percent, the Momentary
Average Interruption Frequency Index by 40.2 percent and the System
Average Interruption Frequency Index by 47.6 percent.

EVN has worked closely with the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and its Water
Resources Department, as well as other operational agencies on managing
hydroelectric reservoirs to supply water for irrigation purposes.

There are still three releases
left for the spring summer crop in the Red River Delta this year.-VNA